It is called red Asian algae, which typically stays for just a couple weeks.

This year, residents say the seaweed and smell has lingered for about six weeks.

The algae is cleared from the beach twice a week.

However, it cannot be completely cleared because of a conservation easement at one section of the shore.

People working at the beach say the smell is affecting business.

“People have been leaving,” beach attendant Cameron Nigro said. “They’ll come and pay and ask for their money back cause it’s almost unbearable. They’ll want to leave because they’ll bring their kids and don’t want them swimming in it.”

Residents say the algae is referred to as the “red tide” and that the smell seeps through neighborhoods.

The public works department says it is trying to get an agreement with the state to allow all of the seaweed to be cleared away so that the smell can go.